Monitoring performance of computing systems

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for monitoring performance of computing systems. In some implementations, a set of tasks for a server system to perform is identified. Multiple performance testing cycles are performed, in which each of the performance testing cycles includes: sending, for each task in the set of tasks, a request for the server system to perform the task; receiving a response from the server system for each of the requests, and storing a performance measure for each of the tasks based on the response received from the server system for the task. Based on the performance measures for the multiple performance testing cycles, an evaluation is performed whether conditions are satisfied for adjusting one or more operating parameters of the server system or for providing a notification regarding the operation of the server system.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present specification relates to monitoring performance of computersystems.

BACKGROUND

Various techniques are used to test computer systems. However, manytesting methods do not effectively indicate the experience of anend-user actually experiences.

SUMMARY

In some implementations, a computer system can perform ongoingperformance testing of other computer systems, such as server systems,to monitor the quality of experience that is provided to end users. Forexample, a management system can run a headless web browser and issuerequests to a server in a way that simulates users making requests tothe server. The management system determines the server's response timefor each request (e.g., the duration from the time of the request to thetime of the server's response that fulfills the request). This allowsthe management system to measure the amount of delay that a user wouldexperience after making a request to the server. This type of testingcan be performed for a variety of types of tasks, and can be donerepeatedly to maintain an ongoing, up-to-date measure of the level ofperformance of the server. In many cases, the ongoing stream of responsetime information obtained in this way can serve as a “heartbeat” orsubstantially real-time and continually refreshed measure of the statusof the server.

The requests that the management system sends for monitoring purposescan be requests to perform the same types of actions or tasks thatactual users commonly request, such as running reports, generatingdocuments, loading a data cube, processing a query, and so on. Themanagement system may automatically select the tasks for monitoring fromusage logs or other data about how users interact with a computer systemover time. The tasks used for monitoring can re-create specific actionsand tasks that users have actually performed. For example, the requeststo a server may be to load each of the 10 documents most frequentlyaccessed by users over a time period, such as the previous week. Asanother example, a request might be to run a query identified from usagelogs as being issued frequently by users. The monitoring system canautomatically select the tasks to perform for monitoring purposes, forexample, to include the most commonly performed actions of differenttypes. As another example, the monitoring system may determine the setof tasks to be performed based on a predetermined signal or input froman administrator. For example, an administrator my specify specificreports or documents whose loading performance should be monitored, byplacing the reports in a specific folder, listing the reports in a userinterface or file, using a naming convention for the reports thatsignals whether performance is to be monitored, and so on. In othercases, a user may specify that all reports in a particular library orall reports available to a server should be monitored.

To further the goal of measuring performance experienced by end users,the monitoring system may perform tasks that represent different aspectsthat rely on a server system to be monitored. As an example, one taskused for monitoring may be to generate a particular document. Anothertask used for monitoring may be to navigate to a particular portionwithin the document. Another task used for monitoring may be to enterfilter criteria and apply the filter criteria to the document. Asanother example, processing a query to return results may be anothertask used for monitoring. Any task or action that relies on processingby the server may be instructed to be performed and the performance ofthe server (e.g., the length of time until the server completes theaction) for the task monitored.

To carry out the performance monitoring, the management server canschedule tasks to run continually on monitored servers. This can involverequesting a server to perform monitoring tasks periodically, forexample, by sending requests at regular intervals such as every minute,every 5 minutes, every 15 minutes, etc. The management server may selecta set of tasks to monitor, and then may use a headless browser torequest a monitored server to initiate each of the selected tasks ateach interval. In some implementations, the management server issues therequest for each task one-by-one in sequence, so that the serverresponds to the current monitored task before the management serverrequests the next monitoring task be performed. The management servercan repeat the same series of tasks multiple times, and in some casesmay initiate another round of performing the monitoring tasks as soon asthe current round of performing the monitoring tasks is finished. Theset of tasks to be monitored can be adjusted or changed by themanagement server from time to time.

The management system can use the ongoing performance measurements toperform various management functions. For example, the management systemcan use the series of performance measures to determine a baseline rangeof performance for a server. The management system can also comparecurrent or recent performance measures to this baseline and detectdeviations in run-time performance. When response times deviate fromtypical levels for at least a threshold amount or over at least athreshold amount of time, the management system can automatically takean action, such as notifying an administrator. The management system canadditionally or alternatively take corrective action to a performancedecrease, such as instructing a change to settings of the server beingmonitored, allocating additional hardware resources to the server,starting another instance of a server environment to better managetraffic, and so on.

In general, the management system can evaluate whether performancemeasures obtained through the ongoing monitoring satisfy certainconditions. The management server can then perform one or more actionsthat have been specified to correspond to the satisfied conditions. Forexample, the management server may assess a series of multipleperformance measures representing performance data points measured overa time period. The management server can detect values, trends, orpatterns that are indicative of certain operating conditions, such asexcessive load or decrease in performance experienced by users.

Because each cycle of performance measurement involves multipledifferent tasks, the management system can detect performance problemsof different types. For example, if the loading of ten differentdocuments is monitored and a performance measurement cycle shows most orall exhibiting a loading time that is longer than typical, then themanagement server can determine that performance is decreasing generallyfor the server. By contrast, if only a specific document shows decreasedperformance, the management server may determine that a problem existsfor the specific document and potentially the component elements or datasources the document relies on. This can help narrow down the causes ofperformance decreases and also select corrective actions to improveperformance. Similarly, some operations may be more sensitive to memoryavailability while other tasks are more affected by CPU availability,and by detecting the differences as the performance levels of each, themanagement system can identify which aspect is under greatestconstraint.

In one general aspect, a method performed by one or more computers, themethod includes: identifying a set of tasks for a server system toperform; performing multiple performance testing cycles, where each ofthe performance testing cycles includes: sending, for each task in theset of tasks, a request for the server system to perform the task;receiving a response from the server system for each of the requests;and storing a performance measure for each of the tasks based on theresponse received from the server system for the task; and evaluating,based on the performance measures for the multiple performance testingcycles, whether conditions are satisfied for adjusting one or moreoperating parameters of the server system or for providing anotification regarding the operation of the server system.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. Forexample, in some implementations, where the set of tasks includesloading a specific set of multiple documents provided by the serversystem.

In some implementations, the set of tasks includes loading a particularportion of a document and performing one or more predeterminedinteractions with the particular portion of the document.

In some implementations, the method includes performing the multipleperformance cycles on an ongoing basis while the server system processesuser-initiated requests to the server system.

In some implementations, sending the requests for the tasks includessending requests that simulate user-initiated requests from user devicesto the server system.

In some implementations, the performance measure includes determining acompletion time or a response time for individual tasks.

In some implementations, the multiple performance testing cycles aremanaged by a testing server system, where the set of tasks includesrendering a document served by the server system using a browserinstance of the testing server system, and where the performance measurefor one of the tasks includes an amount of time to complete rendering ofthe document by the browser instance.

In some implementations, the method further includes initiating one ormore browser instances by the one or more computers. In theseimplementations, sending the requests includes sending the requests fromthe one or more browser instances.

In some implementations, the method includes performing the performancetesting cycles at a predetermined interval. In these implementations,each of the performance testing cycles includes requesting that eachdocument in a predetermined set of documents to be served by the serversystem, the documents being requested sequentially and in order in asame sequence in each performance testing cycle, the requests beingspaced apart during a performance testing cycle such that the eachindividual document is received from the server system before thesubsequent document in the sequence is requested from the server system.

In some implementations, determining the performance measure is based ona time a request is initiated and a time a corresponding response fromthe server system is received.

In some implementations, the method includes evaluating a progression ofperformance measures over multiple performance measurement cycles todetermine an aggregate performance measure for the server system, wherethe aggregate performance measure indicates an average performance ofthe server system over a period of time or a trend or a pattern ofchange in performance of the server system over a period of time.

In some implementations, the method includes: determining, for each ofthe tasks in the set of tasks, (i) a load level experienced by theserver system at the time the task is performed and (ii) an indicationof hardware resources available to the server system at the time thetask is performed; determining a relative performance measure for theserver system that takes into account the performance measures for thetasks, the load levels when the tasks were performed, and the hardwareresources available when the tasks were performed; and comparing therelative performance measure for the server system with relativeperformance measures of one or more other server systems.

In some implementations, the method includes providing, to one or moredevices, an indication of a response time, an average response time, amaximum response time, or a number of errors for the server system.

In some implementations, identifying the tasks includes including, inthe set of tasks: one or more tasks that are specified by a user to beincluded in the set of tasks; one or more tasks determined, based on logdata for the server system, to have the highest frequency amonguser-initiated requests to the server system; or one or more tasks toload documents identified, based on log data for the server system, hasbeing most frequently accessed.

In some implementations, evaluating whether conditions are satisfiedincludes: accessing a set of rules that indicate different criteria andcorresponding actions to perform when the respective criteria aresatisfied; determining that a particular one or more criteria issatisfied by the performance measures; and initiating the actioncorresponding to the particular one or more criteria.

In some implementations, the evaluating includes determining, based onthe performance measures obtained during multiple performance cycles,that performance of the server system has declined by at least a minimumamount. In these implementations, the method includes, in response todetermining that the performance of the server system has declined by atleast the minimum amount, providing a notification to an administratorfor the server system and/or initiating a change to one or moreoperating parameters of the server system.

Other embodiments of these aspects include corresponding systems,apparatus, and computer programs encoded on computer storage devices,configured to perform the actions of the methods. A system of one ormore computers can be so configured by virtue of software, firmware,hardware, or a combination of them installed on the system that, inoperation, cause the system to perform the actions. One or more computerprograms can be so configured by virtue having instructions that, whenexecuted by data processing apparatus, cause the apparatus to performthe actions.

The details of one or more embodiments of the invention are set forth inthe accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features andadvantages of the invention will become apparent from the description,the drawings, and the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram that illustrates an example system for monitoringperformance of computing systems.

FIGS. 2A-2B are diagrams that illustrates example interfaces displayingperformance data.

FIG. 3 is a diagram that illustrates an example system for performingactions based on monitored performance.

FIG. 4 is a diagram that illustrates an example interface displayingperformance data.

FIG. 5 is a diagram that illustrates an example interface displayingperformance data.

Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicatelike elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a diagram that illustrates an example system 100 formonitoring performance of computer systems. The system 100 includes amanagement system 110 that performs performance monitoring, a serversystem 130 to be monitored, client devices 132, and a network 140.

The system 100 can be used to monitor the end-to-end performance andreliability that would be experienced by a user interacting with theserver system 130. The management system 110 can automatically andprecisely measure the end-to-end response time to perform one or moretasks, such as loading a document provided by a server, by simulating auser initiating the tasks. The management system 110 may monitor theresponse time on a continual or ongoing basis by repeatedly performingthe specified tasks. The management system 110, by repeatedly testingthe server system 130 at regular intervals, can establish a detailedview of the performance of the server system 130 over time. This enablesthe management system 110 to detect and react to performance changes andperformance trends for the monitored server system 130, as well as toestablish the nature of normal performance patterns of the server system130.

The management system 110 may organize and display monitoredend-user-experience performance data. The management system 110 mayanalyze the end-user-experience performance data to provide a historicalbreakdown of the monitored end-user-experience performance. Based on theanalysis, the management system 110 may perform one or more actions,such as notifying an administrator of performance changes, adjustingsettings to improve performance, changing an assignment of users fromone system to another, adjusting an allocation of hardware resources,and so on.

FIG. 1 also illustrates various events, shown as stages (A) to (E), witheach representing a step in an example process. Stages (A) to (E) mayoccur in the illustrated sequence, or in a sequence that is differentfrom the illustrated sequence. For example, some of the stages may occurconcurrently.

The management system 110 is configured to monitor the performance ofone or more different systems. In the example of FIG. 1, the managementsystem 110 monitors the performance of the server system 130 and cancommunicate with the server system 130 over the network 140. Themanagement system 110 may include one or more computing devices. Themanagement system 110 has a task list 112 that includes a set of tasksto be tested on the server system 130. The management system alsoincludes a request generation module 114 that creates requests that aresent by a headless browser 116 to the server system 130. After therequests are sent, a performance monitoring module 118 evaluates theperformance of the server system 130 for different requests and storesperformance data in data storage 120.

The server system 130 can include one or more computing devices. Theserver system 130 can communicate with the client devices 132 over thenetwork 140, in addition to the management system 110. The server system130 may be an onsite server, an offsite server, or an environment hostedby a cloud computing platform (e.g., Amazon Web Services (AWS),Microsoft Azure, etc.). The server system 130 may be provided, owned,and/or operated by a third-party with respect to the management system110.

The client devices 132 may be computing devices, such as a desktopcomputer, a laptop computer, a cell phone, a smart phone, and/or atablet device.

The network 140 can include public and/or private networks and caninclude the Internet.

In the example of FIG. 1, the management system 110 initiates tasks tobe performed by the server system 130, which represents a serverenvironment that is in use and responding to requests by various otherusers, e.g., an “in production” system. By performing tasks on aproduction environment and by treating those tasks the same as if theywere initiated by a user, the disclosed system is able to recreate theactual end-user experience. The disclosed system can monitor theresulting performance data to obtain accurate end-user-experienceperformance for particular tasks. Additionally, this performance datamay be used by an administrator or by the system itself to modify serverconfiguration settings in order to improve performance.

By monitoring performance as discussed below, the management system 110can quickly identify errors or performance decreases that affect endusers of the server system 130. In some implementations, the managementsystem 110 tests each task in the task list 112 sequentially. After allthe items in the task list have been tested, the management system 110repeats the testing of all the items in the task list 112. By repeatingthe testing of the items so that performance is tested continually, themanagement system 110 is able to quickly identify deviations from theserver system's 130 typical performance. Among other features, themanagement system 110 can determine when performance decreases occurred,the magnitude or extent that performance has decreased, and the durationthat performance decreases last. In addition to the performance data,the management system 110 can obtain telemetry data about thefunctioning of the server system 130 (e.g., which software modules arerunning, which hardware resources are allocated, load levelsexperienced, current settings, etc.), and use the performance data andthe telemetry data to identify and fix the causes of performancedecreases.

As shown in FIG. 1, at stage (A), the management system 110 obtains atask list 112 that specifies the set of tasks to be tested for theserver system 130. As shown, the task list 112 in this example includesthe retrieval or generation of specific reports and dashboards. The tasklist 112 can be generated by the management system 110 and/or a systemadministrator. In some implementations, a separate task list isdetermined for each computer system to be monitored. The task list canbe representative of the usual workload of the monitored computersystem. For example, the task list 112 can be a variety of tasks thatrepresent the most commonly served documents or other most commonlyperformed functions of the server system 130.

When an administrator generates at least part of the task list 112, themanagement system 110 can provide a list of tasks that can be performedby the server system 130 and/or associated items, such as documentsprovided by the server system 130. Examples of tasks include accessingan item, logging in a user, retrieving an item or part of an item,loading an item, rendering an item, filtering an item, scrolling throughan item to a particular location, etc. As an example, an administrator'sclient device may provide a user interface that shows a list documentsor other items stored on the server system 130. The items may include,for example, reports, dashboards, documents, websites, etc. In thisexample, when the administrator selects an item, they may be presented adrop-down menu of available tasks that can be performed with the item.An administrator may then select one or more tasks or operations to beperformed with the item. If multiple tasks are selected to be performedwith the item, then a workflow specifying the multiple tasks may becreated, and the workflow can be added to the task list 112.

In some implementations, the task list 112 is generated in part orentirely by the management system 110. For example, the managementsystem 110 may access usage logs that indicate the tasks that users haveinitiated over a period of time (e.g., the previous day, week, month,etc.). The management system 110 may then select the tasks mostfrequently performed by users to the task list 112 and/or select theitems that users most frequently interact with. For example, themanagement system 110 may identify the most frequently accessedresources in different categories (e.g., reports, data cubes,dashboards, etc.). The management system 110 can then select apredetermined number (e.g., 3, 5, 10, etc.) of the most frequentlyaccessed resources in each category, and add the generation of or otheraccess to the selected resources as tasks in the task list 112. Overtime, as the usage patterns for the server system 130 change, themanagement system 110 can also change the set of tasks in the task list112 to reflect the new usage patterns, e.g., by adding newly populartasks and removing tasks that have become less popular.

Even when the management system 110 selects some or all of the tasks forthe task list 112, a system administrator may modify the tasks or editthe task list 112. An administrator may modify a task list (e.g., thetask list 112) generated by the management system 110, for example, byadding available tasks and/or items to the list or removing tasks and/oritems from the list.

In some implementations, a task can specify an action regarding a partor subset of an item, such as a location within a document. For example,an administrator may specify that a task involves retrieving only thefirst three pages of a particular document, rather than retrieving theentire document. Similarly, the management system 110 may also definetasks that represent specific interactions or portions of items, forexample, to test performance for a specific part of an item that isfrequently accessed.

The items in the task list 112 are arranged in a particular order, whichindicates the order in which the tasks are to be tested. The managementsystem 110 may select the order of the tasks in the task list 112. Anadministrator may select the order of the tasks in the task list 112 ormay modify an order selected by the monitoring system 100. Here, thetask list 112 includes the generation of the first report 124 (“Report1”), the second report 128 (“Report 2”), the third report (“Report 3),the first dashboard (“Dashboard 1”), and the second dashboard(“Dashboard 2”), in the recited order.

In general, the tasks in the task list 112 can be set to be performedsequentially. For example, the management system 110 initiates testingfor the first task and waits to initiate the second task until the firsttask is completed. This can help limit the impact of performancemonitoring on other concurrently running tasks, and can improve thereliability of testing. In some implementations, one or more tasks inthe task list 112 are designated to be tested concurrently instead ofsequentially. Concurrent testing of two or more tasks may have beenspecified during generation of or editing of the task list 112. Forexample, an administrator may select two reports and indicate that theyshould be tested concurrently. In this example, an administrator mayselect these two reports for concurrent testing or the management system110 may suggest these two reports to the administrator for concurrenttesting if it is known that users frequently use these reports togetheror contemporaneously with one another.

At stage (B), the management system 110 launches an application, such asthe browser 116, and the request generation module 114 generatesrequests for the application to send to the server system 130. Theapplication can be a web browser or other application that communicateswith a server system. The browser 116 may be a headless browser, forexample, a browser that does not have any corresponding display. Thebrowser 116 receives requests generated by the request generation module114 and sends the requests to the server system 130. In someimplementations, the request generation module 114 sends the generatedrequests to the browser 116 sequentially in the order specified in thetask list 112.

In the example of FIG. 1, the browser 116 is used to send requests toand receive responses from the server system 130, in a manner that therequests are perceived to be user traffic by the server system 130. Themanagement system 110 can concurrently run various other browserinstances to communicate with other server systems being monitored bythe management system 110. Similarly, the request generation module 114can generate requests for multiple server environments, based on thesame or different task lists.

The request generation module 114 accesses the task list 112 andgenerates a request for each of the tasks in the task list 112.Accordingly, the request generation module 114 generates the firstrequest 122 a for the first report 124 (“Report 1”), the second request126 for the second report 128 (“Report 2”), the third request for thethird report (“Report 3), the fourth request for the first dashboard(“Dashboard 1”), and the fifth request for the second dashboard(“Dashboard 2”).

In some implementations, when the request generation module 114 hasfinished generating requests for each of the tasks in the task list 112,it will repeat the process, starting with generating the new request 122b for the first report 124. Alternatively, the request generation module114 may reuse the previously generated requests (e.g., request 122 a isthe same as request 122 b).

The request generation module 114 generates the requests in such a wayso as to simulate a request made by a typical user. Accordingly, therequests created by the request generation module 114 may be absent ofany special permissions or authorizations, may use a standard pathway(e.g., the same server sockets that users typically use), may be placedin a standard queue, etc. As an example, the generated requests mayappear the same or similar to requests originating with the clientdevices 132.

The generated requests may contain an indication of the task to beperformed and/or an indication of any associated items. For example, thegenerated requests may include an address of an item's location on theserver system 130, such as a URL for the item. For example, thegenerated requests may include the name or other identifier of an itemassociated with a task (e.g., Report 1). For example, the generatedrequests may include an identifier for a location within an itemassociated with a task such as a page number (e.g., page 2 of Report 1).For example, the generated requests may include credentials forparticular tasks such as logging in. For example, the generated requestsmay include a name or other identifier for the task to be performed(e.g., access, load, retrieve, generate, etc.).

At stage (C), the browser 116 sends the generated requests to the serversystem 130 over the network 140 and receives responses from the serversystem 130 over the network 140. Here, the management server 110 sendsthe first request 122 a for the first report 124 (“Report 1”), thesecond request 126 for the second report 128 (“Report 2”), the thirdrequest for the third report (“Report 3), the fourth request for thefirst dashboard (“Dashboard 1”), and the fifth request for the seconddashboard (“Dashboard 2”) to the server system 130. The browser 116sends the requests, including the requests 122 a and 126, in a mannerinstructed by the request generation module 114, which can besequentially in the order specified in the task list 112. The browser116 may send one or more of the requests concurrently.

After the management server 110 sends a request to the server system130, the management server 110 receives a response from the serversystem 130. Here, the management server 110 receives the first report124 as a response to the request 122 a, and receives the second report128 as a response to the request 126.

The management system 110 records a time at which each of the requestsis sent and a time at which each of the corresponding responses isreceived. In some implementations, the browser 116 waits to receive aresponse (e.g., fulfillment of a request) before sending the nextrequest. For example, the browser 116 may wait to receive the report 124requested by request 122 a before sending the request 126. This canfacilitate the performance of sequences of operations involving the sameresources. For example, one task may retrieve a document, the next taskmay perform an operation on a part of the document, the next task maysave a copy of the document, and so on. Performing the tasks in sequencecan ensure that the appropriate data or state is available when eachtask is initiated, and the process can appropriately simulate typicaluser behavior.

In some implementations, for example when running independent tasks, thebrowser 116 does not wait to receive a response to a request beforesending the next request. For example, the browser 116 may send therequest 126 before receiving the report 124.

In some implementations, the browser 116 sends one or more requestsconcurrently. For example, the browser 116 may send the requests 122 aand 126 at the same time or approximately the same time.

After the management system 110 has finished sending a request for eachof the tasks in the task list 112 (and, in some implementations, hasreceived each of the corresponding responses), the management system 110repeats the process. As shown, after sending requests for each task inthe task list 112, the browser 116 sends the new request 122 b to obtainthe report 124 again. The management system 110 causes the browser 116to then continue cycling through the tasks in the task list 112,recording the performance of the server system's 130 execution of thetasks each time.

Where the response includes an item such as a document, the browser 116may perform additional actions on the item based on the correspondingtask. For example, the browser 116 may load or render the reports 124and 128 that are received from the server system 130. The browser 116may perform the steps of a workflow with the retrieved item. The stepsof the workflow may be based on steps that are typically performed byusers with the particular retrieved item. For example, the browser 116may open the report 124, scroll to page 2 of the report, and filter thereport by geography. This sequence of actions may be derived from usagelogs that indicate, for example, that 60% of users perform these stepswith the report 124. The management system 110 may record the time ittakes to perform each of these additional actions. The management system110 may determine these times using the browser 116. For example, inaddition to recording the time at which request 122 a was sent and thetime at which the report 124 was received, the browser 116 may renderthe report 124 and record the time at which the report 124 rendering wascompleted.

At stage (D), the management system 110 provides the recorded times tothe performance monitoring module 118. The performance monitoring module118 may use the recorded times to calculate current performance metrics.These current performance metrics may include a response time, a taskcompletion time (which may, in some instances, be equivalent to theresponse time), an individual action time (e.g., time to load an item orpart of an item, time to render an item or part of an item, time toscroll through an item, time to filter an item, etc.).

The performance monitoring module 118 may compare the time at which therequest 122 a was sent from browser 116 with the time at which report124 was received by the browser 116 in order to calculate a firstresponse time for request 122 a. The performance monitoring module 118may compare the time at which the request 122 a was sent from thebrowser 116 with the time at which the report 124 was rendered in orderto calculate a first task completion time for the report 124. Theperformance monitoring module 118 may compare the time at which thereport 124 was received by the browser 116 with the time at which thereport 124 was rendered in order to calculate a first rendering time forthe report 124.

The performance monitoring module may analyze the calculated performancemetrics. The performance monitoring module 118 may issue an error or awarning based on one or more of the performance metrics. An error orwarning may occur if a performance metric is unusually high, unusuallylow, or cannot be calculated.

The performance metrics determined by the management system 110 can beused to establish a baseline level of performance for the server system130, which can be expressed as thresholds that represent averageresponse time, maximum response time, and so on. The management system110 can determine that performance deviation has occurred when a metricdoes not satisfy one of the thresholds representing typical performance.These thresholds can be predetermined or variable. In general, theperformance monitoring module 118 may determine thresholds for differentperformance metrics as an average of that performance metric overmultiple cycles of testing, e.g., multiple iterations of the tasks inthe task list 112. The threshold can be based on a moving average thatcovers results from a most recently time period.

For example, the performance monitoring module 118 calculates a 2-dayaverage task completion time for generating the report 124. Theperformance monitoring module 118 may use a timestamp for sending therequest 122 a and a timestamp for receiving the report 124 to determinea task completion time. The performance monitoring module 118 may thencompare the current completion time with the average completion time todetermine whether the difference exceeds some magnitude, such as takingat least 25% longer than the average. When the result is determined totake at least 25% longer than average, the performance monitoring modulemay issue a warning. Various warnings and other actions can be taken fordifferent levels of performance deviations. For example, if the resultis 200% slower than the average, a higher priority notification may beissued, or a corrective action may be initiated.

In addition, performance thresholds can be selected by an administrator.For example, an administrator may specify that if a response time isgreater than 5 seconds for any report, then the administrator should benotified.

An unusually low performance metric is associated with a time that isshorter than expected. A short time may indicate that a task was notfully performed. The performance monitoring module 118 may determinethat a performance metric is unusually high if it is above a threshold(e.g., a predetermined or variable threshold) as, for example, selectedby an administrator.

If a performance metric cannot be calculated, this may indicate thatthere was a failure in performing the task. For example, a performancemetric might not be calculated if an item was unable to be rendered, anitem was never received from the server system 130, an invalid responsewas received from the server system 130, etc.

If an error or warning is determined, the management system 110 mayperform one or more actions. For example, the management system 110 maygenerate and send a notification or other alert to a systemadministrator. The notification may include an indication of performancechanges that have been detected by the management system 110 and whichhave resulted in the error or warning. As another example, themanagement system 110 may adjust server configuration settings of aparticular server system to improve the performance of that serversystem. Adjusting server configuration settings may include, forexample, modifying the network bandwidth of the server system 130, thelatency of the server system 130, the cache size of the server system130, the working data amount for operations performed by the serversystem 130, and/or the version of software used by the server system130. As another example, the management system 110 may adjust anallocation of hardware resources for a particular server system toimprove the performance of that server system. Adjusting the allocationof hardware resources may include, for example, modifying the number ofCPUs allocated to the server system 130, and/or the amount of memory(e.g., RAM) allocated to the server system 130. As another example, themanagement system 110 may change an assignment of users from one serversystem, such as the server system 130, to one or more different serversystems. By reducing the number of users on one server system, such asthe server system 130, the management system 110 can improve theperformance of that server system.

At stage (E), the performance monitoring module 118 stores thecalculated performance metrics in the data storage 120. There may bestored performance metrics for a task list (e.g., the task list 112),for an individual task (e.g., the report 124), and/or for a component ofa task (e.g., individual pages of documents or reports, individualelements of pages, etc.). There may be multiple stored performancemetrics for each task list, for each task, and/or for each component ofa task. For example, the data storage 120 may contain five performancemetrics for rendering page three of the report 124. In this example, thefive performance metrics may be rendering times for the five most recentrenderings of page three of the report 124. The stored performancemetrics may be tagged with a time and date. The performance metrics maybe organized in the data storage 120 by the order in which the tasklist, the tasks, and/or the components of a task were performed. Forexample, the performance metrics of the task list 112, of the individualtasks within the task list 112, and/or the components of the taskswithin the task list 112 may be stored in the data storage 120 in thetask order of the task list 112.

At stage (F), the performance monitoring module 118 accesses the datastorage 120 to obtain previously calculated performance metrics for aparticular task and/or item and analyzes the previously calculatedperformance metrics. Based on the analysis, the performance monitoringmodule 118 may calculate historical performance metrics for theparticular task and/or item. Historical performance metrics may include,for example, average response time over a specified period (e.g., 1hour, 12 hours, 1 day, 2 days, 1 week, 10 days, 2 weeks, 20 days, 1month, etc.), an average task completion time for a particular taskand/or item over a specified period, an average action time for aparticular item over a specified period, an average success rate (e.g.,the rate at which performing a task with a particular item does notresult in an error and/or a warning), a maximum rate (e.g., the longestamount of time it has taken to perform a task with a particular item), anumber of times a task has been performed or performed with a particularitem (e.g., the number of times a particular item has been generated formonitoring purposes), a total number of warnings associated with aparticular task and/or item, a total number of errors associated with aparticular task and/or item, etc.

The performance monitoring module 118 may issue an error or a warningbased on one or more of the historical performance metrics. An error orwarning may occur if a historical performance metric is unusually highor unusually low with respect to thresholds representing desired levels,or if the performance metric cannot be calculated. Determining that ahistorical performance metric is unusually high or low may involvecomparing the historical performance metric with one or more thresholds.For example, there may be a high error threshold, a high warningthreshold lower than the high error threshold, a low error threshold,and a low warning threshold higher than the low error threshold. Theperformance monitoring module 118 may store the calculated historicalperformance metrics in the data storage 120 as part of the performancedata.

The management system 110 may determine a relative performance measure,such as a relative performance index (RPI), for the configurationsettings of the server system 130. The RPI value indicates the level ofperformance when a particular combination of configuration settings isused, after the influence of the hardware resources and/or the loadlevels of a particular server environment have been removed or reduced.

In order to remove the influences and determine the RPI, the managementsystem 110 may normalize the performance results (e.g., the performancemetrics calculated by the performance monitoring module 118 and/or theperformance metrics stored in the data storage 120) for the hardwareresources used by the server system 130 during the testing process,and/or normalize the load levels on the server system 130 during thetesting process. In order to normalize the performance results and/orthe load levels, the management system 110 may first obtain telemetrydata about the functioning of the server system 130. The telemetry datamay include an indication of which software modules are running on theserver system 130, which hardware resources are allocated to the serversystem 130, load levels experienced by the server system 130 (e.g.,total load including the traffic from the client devices), the currentserver configuration settings for the server system 130, etc.

Normalizing the performance results may involve scaling the performanceresults based on differences in load level and/or differences inhardware resources as indicated by the obtained telemetry data of theserver system 130. This process can boost or penalize performancemetrics to estimate how the server system 130 would have performed if ithad the same hardware resources available and experienced the same loadlevels as one or more other server systems, or as a standard or modelserver system. As a very simple example, the performance metrics couldbe normalized to the equivalent of a 50% load level. For a task thatscales linearly with load capacity, the scaling factor could be1+(50−X)/100, where “X” represents the load level percentage. As aresult, if the server system 130 had a load level of 80% at the time oftesting, a 1.0 second task completion time may be scaled from 1.0seconds to 1.0*(1−30/100)=0.7 seconds. Similarly, a different serversystem that had a load level of 30% at the time of testing and alsoachieved a 1.0 second task completion time may be scaled from 1.0seconds to 1.0*(1+20/100)=1.2 seconds. Differing hardware capabilitiescan also be taken into account with scaling factors. The scaling usedduring the normalization of the performance metrics may be linear ornon-linear. In some implementations, the scaling or the RPI score itselfis determined by a machine-learning model that has learned fromexamples, previous performance results, and/or previous configurationsettings.

In some implementations, the RPI is determined for overall performance.That is, the RPI might account for each type of performance metric. Forexample, the RPI might account for the response time(s), the taskcompletion time(s), the concurrency, the frequency of errors, the typeof errors, and the accuracy of results. However, each of theseperformance aspects are not necessarily weighted the same whendetermining the RPI. In some implementations, multiple RPI scores may becalculated for different types of performance metrics, e.g., with oneRPI score being a normalized indication of response time, another RPIscore representing a normalized indication of accuracy, etc.

In actual implementations, the techniques for normalizing theperformance metrics and generating RPI values can be defined or learnedempirically. Different tasks or portions of tasks are sensitive todifferent factors, e.g., memory size, memory latency, CPU speed, numberof concurrent tasks, and so on, and there may be non-linear orunpredictable relationships of these factors on performance. Themanagement system 110 can run the tasks used for testing in different,controlled conditions to characterize the effects of different hardwarechanges and load levels on performance. This can enable the managementsystem 110 to characterize how different conditions affect performance.In other words, the management server 110 can operate a serverenvironment and with the same software configuration settings, run asuite of tests with the environment experiencing 0% load, then 5% load,then 10% load, then 15% load and so on. Similarly, the management system110 can operate a server environment with the same softwareconfiguration settings and different hardware resources, e.g., differentnumbers of processors, different types of processors, different memorysizes, and so on. By testing different combinations of load levels andhardware resources while keeping software settings and other factorsconstant, the management system 110 can isolate the effects of (andinterplay of) load level and hardware resources, to develop the datapoints that show how change in load and hardware affect performance. Ofcourse, the characterization of effects of load and hardware onperformance can be done for each of various different combinations ofconfiguration settings, so that the particularities of one combinationof configuration settings do not skew the relationships that will beused for normalizing results. With the load/hardware characterizationdata points, the management system 110 can extract the relationshipsneeded to normalize for changes in load and hardware. This can be donethorough any appropriate technique, such as regression modelling, curvefitting, or machine learning.

As an example, the management system 110 can use the data points thatcharacterize the performance of a single software configuration overdifferent load and hardware conditions to train machine learning models.For example, a machine learning model can be trained to receive inputindicating actual performance measured for a test, load statisticsduring the test, and hardware used by the tested environment, and outputan RPI. The parameters of the machine learning model can be trained sothat substantially the same RPI is produced for a single test andsoftware configuration, even for different absolute performance resultsachieved due to different load and hardware conditions. By trainingmodels in this way, the models can learn the complex interaction betweendifferent types of tasks with load levels and hardware resourceavailability, and perform a normalization that takes them into account.

In some implementations, the requests 122 a, 126, and 122 b may be sentby a mobile computing device. For example, the requests 122 a, 126, and122 b may be sent by a smart phone, a tablet computer, a laptopcomputer, etc. The mobile computing device may be a mobile computingdevice of an administrator of the management system 110. The mobilecomputing device may be a mobile computing device of a user of themanagement system 110. The mobile computing device may be able tocommunicate with the management system 110. As an example, the mobilecomputing device may receive the task list 112 from the managementsystem 110. The mobile computing device may generate requests for eachof the tasks within the task list 112. The mobile computing device maythen send each of the generated requests to the server system 130. Themobile computing device may send a sent time for each of the requests122 a, 124, and 122 b to the management system 110.

In some implementations, responses from the server system 130 may bereceived by a mobile computing device. For example, the first report 124and the second report 128 may be received by a smart phone, a tabletcomputer, a laptop computer, etc. The mobile computing device may be amobile computing device of an administrator of the management system110. The mobile computing device may be a mobile computing device of auser of the management system 110. The mobile computing device may beable to communicate with the management system 110. In theseimplementations, the mobile computing device may have sent the requests122 a, 124, and 122 b to the server system 130. As an example, themobile computing device may receive the first report 124 and the secondreport 128 from the server system 130. The mobile computing device maythen record various times associated with the first report 124 and thesecond report 128, e.g., a time when each report was received, a timewhen each report was rendered, etc. The mobile computing device may thensend these times to the management system 110 or may calculateperformance metrics associated with the first report 124 and/or thesecond report 128 itself, e.g., where the mobile computing device sentthe requests 122 a, 124, and/or 122 b to the server system 130.

FIGS. 2A-2B are diagrams that illustrates example interfaces displayingperformance data.

As shown in FIG. 2A, an interface 200 a displays performance data. Theperformance data may be organized by date such that there is a windowfor each day or other specified time period (e.g., 12 hours, 2 days, 1week, 10 days, 20 days, 1 month, etc.). Here, a window 202, for the dateof Mar. 11, 2019, includes a list of various tasks 204, a list ofmonitored request times 206 for each of the tasks, a list of monitoredresponse times 208 for each of the tasks, a list of rendering times 210for each of the tasks, and a list of total times 212 for each of thetasks (i.e., amount of time needed to perform the task). The total times212 may represent a current performance metrics as calculated, forexample, by the performance monitoring module 118 of the managementsystem 110 as shown in FIG. 1. The values included in the list of thetotal times 212 may be in seconds.

The tasks 208 include the same tasks in the task list 112 as shown inFIG. 1. Here, the name of each of the items (e.g., “Report 1”) in thetasks 204 is associated with the task of generating that item.

Here, as indicated by the request times 206 and the rendered times 210,a request for a following task of the tasks 204 is not sent until theprevious task of the tasks 204 is complete (e.g., until the associateditem has been rendered). The request for the following task of the tasks204 may be sent immediately following the completion of the previoustask of tasks 204.

As discussed with reference to FIG. 1, the set of tasks may berepeatedly performed in a continual or repetitive manner. Accordingly,after the last task of a set is performed (e.g., the last task of thetask list 112 as shown in FIG. 1), the first task of the set isperformed again. For these reasons, Report 1 appears a second time inthe tasks 204 immediately following the rendering of Dashboard 1.

As shown, despite Report 1 being generated twice in a short span oftime, two different response times, found in the total times 212, aremonitored. The first time of 1.32 is slower than the second time of1.21, indicating an improvement in task performance.

Further scrolling through the window 202 may reveal additionalperformance data for the various tasks. The additional performance datamay reveal additional request times of the request times 206, additionalresponse times of the response times 208, additional rendering times ofthe rendering times 210, and additional total times of the total times212 for generating the Report 1, the Report 2, the Report 3, theDashboard 1, and the Dashboard 2. The additional performance data mayreveal that repeated generation of the Report 1, the Report 2, theReport 3, the Dashboard 1, and the Dashboard 2 consistently andconstantly throughout Mar. 11, 2019 in the stated order.

As shown in FIG. 2B, an interface 200 b displays historical performancedata. The interface 200 b includes a window 220 containing a list ofitems 222, a list of tasks 224 performed with the items 222, a list oftime values 226 representing averages over the past two days, a list oftime values 228 representing averages over the past twenty days, and alist of percentages 230 representing the percent change between the timevalues 228 and the time values 226. The time values 226 and 228 mayrepresent values in seconds. A positive percentage of the percentages230 is associated with an improvement in task performance, whereas anegative percentage of the percentages 230 is associated with a declinein task performance.

Although the time values 226 represent averages over the past two days,other time ranges may be selected and displayed. For example, a timerange of the past six hours, the past 12 hours, the past day, the pastthree days, or the past week may be selected and displayed in the window220.

Although the time values 228 represent averages over the past 20 days,other time ranges may be selected and displayed. For example, a timerange of the past week, the past 10 days, the past 14 days, the pastmonth or 30 days, the past six months, or the past year may be selectedand displayed in the window 220.

The items found in the items list 222 include Report 1 and Report 2.Further scrolling through the window 220 may reveal additional items.These additional items may include the other reports and the dashboardsfound in the task list 112 as shown in FIG. 1.

The task list 224 includes the tasks of generating an item, andgenerating and applying a filter to an item. Further scrolling throughthe window 220 may reveal additional tasks. These additional tasks mayinclude, for example, accessing an item, logging into one or moresystems, retrieving an item, loading an item or part of an item,rendering an item or part of an item, scrolling through an item, etc.

FIG. 3 is a diagram that illustrate a system 300 for performing actionsbased on monitored performance. The system 300 includes the managementsystem 110, the server system 130, and an administrator device 312. Themanagement system 110 includes the performance monitoring module 118 andthe data storage 120 containing performance data.

While analyzing current performance data or analyzing historicalperformance data, the performance monitoring module 118 may detect adeviation in task completion times (302). This deviation may beassociated with a warning or an error as discussed above with referenceto FIG. 1. If a warning or an error is determined to be associated withthe detected deviation, the performance monitoring module 118 may storethe warning or the error as part of the performance data in data storage120.

Based on the detected deviation, the management system 110 determinesone or more actions to perform (304). These actions may include, forexample, notifying an administrator of performance changes, adjustingsettings to improve performance, changing an assignment of users fromone system to another, adjusting an allocation of hardware resources,and so on. The administrator may be an administrator of the serversystem 130. Determining the one or more actions to perform may be basedon whether the deviation is associated with a warning or with an error.For example, if the performance data meets a first threshold but doesnot meet a second threshold, the management system 110 shown in FIG. 1may determine that the deviation should be classified as a warning andmay send a corresponding notification to an administrator. As anotherexample, if the performance data meets both a first threshold and asecond threshold, the management system 110 may determine that thedeviation should be classified as an error and may send a higherpriority notification to the administrator and may perform additionalactions such as adjusting the configuration settings of the serversystem 130 shown in FIG. 1. The thresholds may be based on a baselinelevel of performance established by the management system 110 for theserver system 130. For example, the first threshold may be 50% above thebaseline and the second threshold may be 200% above the baseline. Thethresholds may be automatically calculated using the establishedbaseline. The thresholds may be set by a system administrator. Thethresholds may be set by a machine learning network.

The management system 110 may determine to select new serverconfiguration settings and send instructions to the server system 130(306). This action may be selected by the management system 110 wheredeviations in task completion times indicate poor performance but notnecessarily an error. For example, if it is determined that thegeneration of reports on the server system 130 takes on average 20%longer than recommended, the management system 110 may select newconfiguration settings for the server system 130 such that 20% more RAMis allocated to such tasks. Poor performance or performance that isworse than expected may be associated with a warning. The configurationsettings may include one or more of a network bandwidth, a latency, acache size, a number of CPUs allocated, a working data amount foroperations performed, an amount of memory (e.g., RAM), and/or a versionof software used. Upon determining new configuration settings for theserver system 130, the management system 110 either sends them to theserver system 130 to be immediately applied or sends them to theadministrator device 312 for verification.

The management system 110 may determine to select one or more tasks andinitiate performance of the selected one or more tasks (308). Thisaction may be selected by the management system 110 where deviations intask completion times indicate a warning or an error. The selected oneor more tasks may be those tasks that have been previously associatedwith a warning or an error. The selected one or more tasks may be thosetasks that have been most frequently associated with a warning or anerror. The selected one or more tasks may be associated with one or moreparticular items, such as reports, other documents, dashboards, etc. Themanagement system 110 may initiate performance of the selected one ormore tasks by generating a request (e.g., by the request generationmodule 114 as shown in FIG. 1) and sending the generated request to theserver system 130.

The management system 110 may generate a notification and send thegenerated notification to an administrator (310). The notification maybe generated by the performance monitoring module 118. The notificationmay include the name or other identifier of the task associated with thedetected deviation. The notification may include the name or otheridentifier of an item associated with the task that is associated withthe detected deviation. The notification may include an indication ofwhether a warning or an error was associated with the detecteddeviation. In sending the generated notification to an administrator,the management system 110 sends the generated notification to theadministrator device 312.

FIG. 4 is a diagram that illustrates an interface 400 displaying adetailed view of performance data, including calculated performancemetrics. The interface 400 includes a table 402. The table 402 providesa detailed view of the task of generating all pages of Report 1. Thecalculated performance metrics include calculated performance metricsfor each page of an example Report 1 (e.g., the first report 124 asshown in FIG. 1). The performance metrics include a last generationperformance time for each page in seconds, a maximum time for each pagein seconds, the number of tests of each page, and a total number oferrors experienced during the generation of each page.

Each of the pages a report may be provided a name. The pages names maybe user-definable. As shown, a third page of Report 1 is named “StatusPanel”, a fourth page of Report 1 is named “Organization”, a fifth pageof Report 1 is named “Product”, a sixth page of Report 1 is named“Current Period”, a seventh page of Report 1 is also named “Product”, aneighth page of Report 1 is named “Current Iteration”, and a ninth pageof Report 1 is named “Planning Readiness.” As an example, with respectto FIG. 1, a user of the server system 130 may be able to provide thenames for each of the pages in the first report 124 through one of theclient devices 132.

The performance metrics are also organized by the server from whichReport 1 and/or the pages of Report 1 are requested. As shown,performance metrics are provided for a first server 406 (“Server 1”) anda second server 408 (“Server 2”).

If a performance metric is determined to be associated with a warning oran error (e.g., by the performance monitoring module 118 as shown inFIGS. 1 and 3), then the performance metric may be distinguished fromother performance metrics. For example, if a performance metric isdetermined to be below a warning threshold but above an error threshold,it may be presented with a warning color (e.g., yellow) or shade that isdifferent from a healthy color (e.g., green) or shade (or absence ofshade) and different from an error color (e.g., red) or shade.

As shown, healthy performance metrics are left unshaded, performancemetrics indicating a warning are marked with a first shade, andperformance metrics indicating that an error has likely occurred aremarked with a second shade that is darker than the first shade. Here, awarning threshold for a maximum generation time may be 5.00 seconds, andan error threshold for a maximum generation time may be 10.00 seconds.In addition, a warning threshold for a minimum reliability may be99.00%. Because generation of page 6 of Report 1 requested from Server 1took 5.38 seconds, the performance metric met the warning threshold butnot the error threshold. As such, the performance metric of a 5.38second time indicates a warning. Similarly, because generation of page 5of Report 1 requested from Server 1 took 12.14 seconds, the performancemetric met the error threshold. As such, the performance metric of a12.14 second time indicates that an error has likely occurred. Thedetection of an error may trigger a higher priority action than thedetection of a warning.

The interface 400 also includes a graph 404 depicting the time inseconds to execute all pages of Report 1 over time. The graph 404 is aline graph with three different data sets. The graph 404 includes afirst data set representing the performance associated with the firstserver 406 for the generation of all pages of Report 1. The graph 404includes a second data set representing the performance associated withthe second server 408 for the generation of all pages of Report 1. Thegraph 404 includes a third data set for the performance associated witha third server 410 for the generation of all pages of Report 1.

In some implementations, the interface 400 multiple graphs instead ofthe single graph 404. For example, the interface 400 may include a graphfor each of the data sets. Specifically, the interface 400 may includeseparates graphs, each graph representing data from either the firstserver 406, the second server 408, or the third server 410.

With respect to FIG. 3, the interface 400 may be presented on anadministrator device 312. The interface 400 may be generated based ondata included in a notification sent by the management system 110 to theadministrator device 312. In some cases, the interface 400 may presentedon one or more other devices. For example, the interface 400 may bepresented on one or more of the client devices 132 as shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a diagram that illustrates an interface 500 displaying asimplified view of performance data, including some calculatedperformance metrics. The interface 500 is broken up into three columns,one for each of the servers to which requests were made. There is afirst column 502 a for an example Server 1 (e.g., the first server 406as shown in FIG. 4). There is a second column 502 b for an exampleServer 2 (e.g., the second server 408 as shown in FIG. 4). There is athird column 502 c for an example Server 3 (e.g., the third server 408as shown in FIG. 4). Each of the columns includes performance metricsfor a particular task.

Each column of columns 502 a-502 c includes an interface element 504 forthe task of generating Report 1. Each column of columns 502 a-502 cincludes an interface element 506 for the task of generating Report 2.Each column of columns 502 a-502 c includes an interface element 508 forthe task of generating Report 3. Each column of columns 502 a-c includesan interface element 510 for the task of generating Dashboard 1.

Each of the interface elements 504 a-504 c includes performance metricsrelating to the task of generating Report 1. Each of the interfaceelements 506 a-506 c includes performance metrics relating to the taskof generating Report 2. Each of the interface elements 508 a-508 cincludes performance metrics relating to the task of generating Report3. Each of the interface elements 510 a-510 c includes performancemetrics relating to the task of generating Dashboard 1. Theseperformance metrics include a last time, an time for the generationimmediately preceding the last generation, a percent change between thetwo times, and a graph depicting the task time on the particular serverover time. A positive percent change in time indicates decreasedperformance and may be shown in a first color (e.g., red) or shadedifferent from a negative percent change. A negative percent change intime indicates increased performance and may be shown in a second color(e.g., green) or shade (or absence of shade) different from a positivepercent change.

A number of implementations have been described. Nevertheless, it willbe understood that various modifications may be made without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the disclosure. For example, various formsof the flows shown above may be used, with steps re-ordered, added, orremoved.

Embodiments of the invention and all of the functional operationsdescribed in this specification can be implemented in digital electroniccircuitry, or in computer software, firmware, or hardware, including thestructures disclosed in this specification and their structuralequivalents, or in combinations of one or more of them. Embodiments ofthe invention can be implemented as one or more computer programproducts, e.g., one or more modules of computer program instructionsencoded on a computer readable medium for execution by, or to controlthe operation of, data processing apparatus. The computer readablemedium can be a machine-readable storage device, a machine-readablestorage substrate, a memory device, a composition of matter effecting amachine-readable propagated signal, or a combination of one or more ofthem. The term “data processing apparatus” encompasses all apparatus,devices, and machines for processing data, including by way of example aprogrammable processor, a computer, or multiple processors or computers.The apparatus can include, in addition to hardware, code that creates anexecution environment for the computer program in question, e.g., codethat constitutes processor firmware, a protocol stack, a databasemanagement system, an operating system, or a combination of one or moreof them. A propagated signal is an artificially generated signal, e.g.,a machine-generated electrical, optical, or electromagnetic signal thatis generated to encode information for transmission to suitable receiverapparatus.

A computer program (also known as a program, software, softwareapplication, script, or code) can be written in any form of programminglanguage, including compiled or interpreted languages, and it can bedeployed in any form, including as a stand alone program or as a module,component, subroutine, or other unit suitable for use in a computingenvironment. A computer program does not necessarily correspond to afile in a file system. A program can be stored in a portion of a filethat holds other programs or data (e.g., one or more scripts stored in amarkup language document), in a single file dedicated to the program inquestion, or in multiple coordinated files (e.g., files that store oneor more modules, sub programs, or portions of code). A computer programcan be deployed to be executed on one computer or on multiple computersthat are located at one site or distributed across multiple sites andinterconnected by a communication network.

The processes and logic flows described in this specification can beperformed by one or more programmable processors executing one or morecomputer programs to perform functions by operating on input data andgenerating output. The processes and logic flows can also be performedby, and apparatus can also be implemented as, special purpose logiccircuitry, e.g., an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or an ASIC(application specific integrated circuit).

Processors suitable for the execution of a computer program include, byway of example, both general and special purpose microprocessors, andany one or more processors of any kind of digital computer. Generally, aprocessor will receive instructions and data from a read only memory ora random access memory or both. The essential elements of a computer area processor for performing instructions and one or more memory devicesfor storing instructions and data. Generally, a computer will alsoinclude, or be operatively coupled to receive data from or transfer datato, or both, one or more mass storage devices for storing data, e.g.,magnetic, magneto optical disks, or optical disks. However, a computerneed not have such devices. Moreover, a computer can be embedded inanother device, e.g., a tablet computer, a mobile telephone, a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a mobile audio player, a Global PositioningSystem (GPS) receiver, to name just a few. Computer readable mediasuitable for storing computer program instructions and data include allforms of non volatile memory, media and memory devices, including by wayof example semiconductor memory devices, e.g., EPROM, EEPROM, and flashmemory devices; magnetic disks, e.g., internal hard disks or removabledisks; magneto optical disks; and CD ROM and DVD-ROM disks. Theprocessor and the memory can be supplemented by, or incorporated in,special purpose logic circuitry.

To provide for interaction with a user, embodiments of the invention canbe implemented on a computer having a display device, e.g., a CRT(cathode ray tube) or LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor, fordisplaying information to the user and a keyboard and a pointing device,e.g., a mouse or a trackball, by which the user can provide input to thecomputer. Other kinds of devices can be used to provide for interactionwith a user as well; for example, feedback provided to the user can beany form of sensory feedback, e.g., visual feedback, auditory feedback,or tactile feedback; and input from the user can be received in anyform, including acoustic, speech, or tactile input.

Embodiments of the invention can be implemented in a computing systemthat includes a back end component, e.g., as a data server, or thatincludes a middleware component, e.g., an application server, or thatincludes a front end component, e.g., a client computer having agraphical user interface or a Web browser through which a user caninteract with an implementation of the invention, or any combination ofone or more such back end, middleware, or front end components. Thecomponents of the system can be interconnected by any form or medium ofdigital data communication, e.g., a communication network. Examples ofcommunication networks include a local area network (“LAN”) and a widearea network (“WAN”), e.g., the Internet.

The computing system can include clients and servers. A client andserver are generally remote from each other and typically interactthrough a communication network. The relationship of client and serverarises by virtue of computer programs running on the respectivecomputers and having a client-server relationship to each other.

While this specification contains many specifics, these should not beconstrued as limitations on the scope of the invention or of what may beclaimed, but rather as descriptions of features specific to particularembodiments of the invention. Certain features that are described inthis specification in the context of separate embodiments can also beimplemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, variousfeatures that are described in the context of a single embodiment canalso be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in anysuitable subcombination. Moreover, although features may be describedabove as acting in certain combinations and even initially claimed assuch, one or more features from a claimed combination can in some casesbe excised from the combination, and the claimed combination may bedirected to a subcombination or variation of a subcombination.

Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings in a particularorder, this should not be understood as requiring that such operationsbe performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, orthat all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirableresults. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processingmay be advantageous. Moreover, the separation of various systemcomponents in the embodiments described above should not be understoodas requiring such separation in all embodiments, and it should beunderstood that the described program components and systems cangenerally be integrated together in a single software product orpackaged into multiple software products.

In each instance where an HTML file is mentioned, other file types orformats may be substituted. For instance, an HTML file may be replacedby an XML, JSON, plain text, or other types of files. Moreover, where atable or hash table is mentioned, other data structures (such asspreadsheets, relational databases, or structured files) may be used.

Particular embodiments of the invention have been described. Otherembodiments are within the scope of the following claims. For example,the steps recited in the claims can be performed in a different orderand still achieve desirable results.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method performed by one or more computers, themethod comprising: identifying a set of tasks for a server system toperform; performing multiple performance testing cycles, wherein each ofthe performance testing cycles comprises: sending, for each task in theset of tasks, a request for the server system to perform the task;receiving a response from the server system for each of the requests;and storing a performance measure for each of the tasks based on theresponse received from the server system for the task; and evaluating,based on the performance measures for the multiple performance testingcycles, whether conditions are satisfied for adjusting one or moreoperating parameters of the server system or for providing anotification regarding the operation of the server system.
 2. The methodof claim 1, wherein the set of tasks comprises loading a specific set ofmultiple documents provided by the server system.
 3. The method of claim1, wherein the set of tasks comprises loading a particular portion of adocument and performing one or more predetermined interactions with theparticular portion of the document.
 4. The method of claim 1, comprisingperforming the multiple performance cycles on an ongoing basis while theserver system processes user-initiated requests to the server system. 5.The method of claim 1, wherein sending the requests for the taskscomprises sending requests that simulate user-initiated requests fromuser devices to the server system.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein theperformance measure comprises determining a completion time or aresponse time for individual tasks.
 7. The method of claim 1, whereinthe multiple performance testing cycles are managed by a testing serversystem, wherein the set of tasks includes rendering a document served bythe server system using a browser instance of the testing server system,and wherein the performance measure for one of the tasks comprises anamount of time to complete rendering of the document by the browserinstance.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising initiating one ormore browser instances by the one or more computers; wherein sending therequests comprises sending the requests from the one or more browserinstances.
 9. The method of claim 1, comprising performing theperformance testing cycles at a predetermined interval, wherein each ofthe performance testing cycles comprises requesting that each documentin a predetermined set of documents to be served by the server system,the documents being requested sequentially and in order in a samesequence in each performance testing cycle, the requests being spacedapart during a performance testing cycle such that the each individualdocument is received from the server system before the subsequentdocument in the sequence is requested from the server system.
 10. Themethod of claim 1, wherein determining the performance measure is basedon a time a request is initiated and a time a corresponding responsefrom the server system is received.
 11. The method of claim 1, comprisesevaluating a progression of performance measures over multipleperformance measurement cycles to determine an aggregate performancemeasure for the server system, wherein the aggregate performance measureindicates an average performance of the server system over a period oftime or a trend or a pattern of change in performance of the serversystem over a period of time.
 12. The method of claim 1, comprising:determining, for each of the tasks in the set of tasks, (i) a load levelexperienced by the server system at the time the task is performed and(ii) an indication of hardware resources available to the server systemat the time the task is performed; determining a relative performancemeasure for the server system that takes into account the performancemeasures for the tasks, the load levels when the tasks were performed,and the hardware resources available when the tasks were performed; andcomparing the relative performance measure for the server system withrelative performance measures of one or more other server systems. 13.The method of claim 1, comprising providing, to one or more devices, anindication of a response time, an average response time, a maximumresponse time, or a number of errors for the server system.
 14. Themethod of claim 1, wherein identifying the tasks comprises including, inthe set of tasks: one or more tasks that are specified by a user to beincluded in the set of tasks; one or more tasks determined, based on logdata for the server system, to have the highest frequency amonguser-initiated requests to the server system; or one or more tasks toload documents identified, based on log data for the server system, hasbeing most frequently accessed.
 15. The method of claim 1, whereinevaluating whether conditions are satisfied comprises: accessing a setof rules that indicate different criteria and corresponding actions toperform when the respective criteria are satisfied; determining that aparticular one or more criteria is satisfied by the performancemeasures; and initiating the action corresponding to the particular oneor more criteria.
 16. The method of claim 1, wherein the evaluatingcomprises determining, based on the performance measures obtained duringmultiple performance cycles, that performance of the server system hasdeclined by at least a minimum amount; wherein the method comprises, inresponse to determining that the performance of the server system hasdeclined by at least the minimum amount, providing a notification to anadministrator for the server system and/or initiating a change to one ormore operating parameters of the server system.
 17. A system comprising:one or more computers; and one or more computer-readable media storinginstructions that, when executed, cause the one or more computers toperform operations comprising: identifying a set of tasks for a serversystem to perform; performing multiple performance testing cycles,wherein each of the performance testing cycles comprises: sending, foreach task in the set of tasks, a request for the server system toperform the task; receiving a response from the server system for eachof the requests; and storing a performance measure for each of the tasksbased on the response received from the server system for the task; andevaluating, based on the performance measures for the multipleperformance testing cycles, whether conditions are satisfied foradjusting one or more operating parameters of the server system or forproviding a notification regarding the operation of the server system.18. The system of claim 17, wherein the set of tasks comprises loading aspecific set of multiple documents provided by the server system. 19.The system of claim 17, wherein the operations comprise performing themultiple performance cycles on an ongoing basis while the server systemprocesses user-initiated requests to the server system.
 20. One or morenon-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, whenexecuted by one or more computers, cause the one or more computers toperform operations comprising: identifying a set of tasks for a serversystem to perform; performing multiple performance testing cycles,wherein each of the performance testing cycles comprises: sending, foreach task in the set of tasks, a request for the server system toperform the task; receiving a response from the server system for eachof the requests; and storing a performance measure for each of the tasksbased on the response received from the server system for the task; andevaluating, based on the performance measures for the multipleperformance testing cycles, whether conditions are satisfied foradjusting one or more operating parameters of the server system or forproviding a notification regarding the operation of the server system.